Poetry Competitions

I'm lucky to be shortlisted in two poetry competitions at the moment, The Bangor Poetry Competition and the Bray Festival Poetry Competition.

The Bray prize-giving ceremony is on Culture Night, Friday 20th, at 7.30 pm in Bray Town Hall where the three winners will be announced. There are only six poems in the Bray shortlist which makes it even more special having one among them.

The 15 shortlisted poems in the Bangor, Co Down, competition will be on display at The Blackberry Path Art Studios in Bangor Co Down from Thursday 25th September until Sunday 29th September 2019 as part of Aspects Irish Literary Festival and will be voted on by the public during the exhibition.

Winner, runner up and placed poets will be revealed at The Bangor Literary Journal Launch at Fealty’s Back Bar Wed 2nd Oct 7-9 pm.

In both cases shortlisted poets are invited to read at the events. Both these competitions also have good online presences and have publicized the shortlistings and events very well. There are other competitions where entrants struggle to find out if there is a shortlist and who has made the shortlist. This in spite of having paid a not inconsequential entrance fee.

It's always nice to be shortlisted, it means someone has picked out your work from among many many good entries. Having judged a number of poetry competitions, sometimes with others, I realize how much depends on the judges own taste and preferences. So thanks to the judges and organizers in these two competitions and well done to all those shortlisted.